TheSixthAxis
HomepageTheSixthAxis's Reviews
A Tale of Paper is a great concept with an excellent presentation that's slightly ruined by some poor platforming design. If you're willing to stick it out though, you'll be rewarded with a gorgeous world to explore and an equally captivating score.
I cannot, in good faith, recommend a game that I could not finish thanks to game-breaking bugs. Looking past that, on the grounds that said bug can be squashed in time, you have a great concept that is just poorly executed. For all its atmosphere, for all its potential, the game feels totally hollow. Perhaps the point of the game was that you feel closer to the squirrels than your boss, who you hold in such contempt you refuse to speak to her. Perhaps the game is just dull.
Mutropolis is a decent point and click adventure title with genuine humour and some very good puzzles. However, it's let down by a slow-paced middle act that drags on far too long and some puzzles that could have been better implemented.
Overall, I really like where my successive adventures into Curious Expedition 2 took me. There's a few minor bugs to iron out, but I found that the game was mostly a smooth ride from beginning to end (by which I mean when an expedition failed and I quit the game). There's enough depth here that you feel invested in the fate of your character, and even once I finished playing, I kept thinking back to my latest run and what I could do differently.
In an industry filled with excellent couch co-op games, it's really hard to recommend Shakes on a Plane. The gameplay is incredibly simple, offering very little variation outside of the core campaign mode. Unless you're desperate for a multiplayer game, having finished everything else, this is one flight you can probably miss.
Maquette is a great puzzle game that uses perspective and out of the box thinking very well. The story of Michael and Kenzie is neatly entwined within these puzzle, adding heart and soul to the game as you make your way through the world, big and small.
Valheim’s realism is so apparent that it’s easy to recognize, but not too much so that it would turn those looking for a similar experience to, say, Minecraft, away. Survival games are what you make of them, and that’s the beauty in it.
What Bravely Default II has retained from previous games has been polished to a high standard and delivers the perfect slice of turn-based JRPG nonsense you're craving. However, be warned as the areas that have changed aren't as solidly executed and can have frustrating results. Bravely Default II is definitely worth the look for JRPG fans or fans of the series, but be prepared for an experience that's a tad rough at times.
Tohu is a mixed bag. It delivers such beauty and curious treasures, but it loses some of its shine thanks to tediously hard puzzles and a hint system that proves to be a greater hindrance than the actual puzzles. For those who love a challenge, Tohu will tick all the right boxes for you. However, I found it to be lacking in depth for a game that showed such promise; the trailer, imagery, and story all hold the potential to deliver more and it just falls short, or at least it did for me.
No more advanced than Crazy Taxi was back when it debuted all those years ago, and without the same trademark attitude, Taxi Chaos is a real missed opportunity to modernise an arcade favourite.
We Were Here Together is ultimately a bit of a let down on console. Some of the biggest puzzles are quite frustrating, some of the others rely on a poorly designed user interface, and the ones we most enjoyed were the shorter ones anyway. There are better coop puzzlers to spend your cash, time, and friendships on.
Neptunia Virtual Stars is a great new direction for the series. It's weird and unexpected, but it's a breath of fresh-air compared to the familiar territory the last few games have been treading. There's a massive amount of love for vtuber culture in this game and it helps lift up the fun and refreshing story. It's a shame that the combat couldn't reach the same highs as the rest of the game, but while it's a major wrinkle, it doesn't ruin the entire experience. Any hardcore vtuber fan needs to play this game, and some clunky combat won't change that.
Fatal Fury First Contact is a solid little fighting game, but it has little to offer beyond that. Unless you are specifically a huge fan of the Neo Geo Pocket or all things Fatal Fury, there are definitely better fighting games you can spend your money on.
Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a fantastic Zelda-inspired, procedurally-generated, action-adventure with one of the most rewarding gameplay loops I've seen in some time. It perfectly captures the styles of its inspirations, while carving its own legacy as a standout Roguelike. I honestly enjoyed every second of my time with Rogue Heroes and can't wait to continue playing in the coming weeks.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is the most ambitious Ys game to date, delivering a larger focus on narrative and a much more involved and organic world to explore. The game stumbles under its ambitions a bit, with a slow opening chapter and a consistently struggling framerate. Despite those issues, though, this is easily one of the best entries in the long-running franchise, and while veteran fans will get a lot out of the callbacks sprinkled throughout the game, newcomers are still in for one of the best action RPGs of the year.
Glyph is a soothing puzzle platformer, which, despite its sparse appearance has plenty of bounce, challenging you with its literal sandbox gameplay.
Eternal Hope is a great little puzzle platformer. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in heart, offering a relatable story of love, loss and redemption. Perfect if you're looking for a short, heartfelt adventure to keep you distracted for a few hours.
It's difficult to sum up Conspiracy! On the one hand it's a great concept and the meta approach is fascinating. It's a game with many interesting things to say about online culture, the news cycle and how we perceive the world we have constructed. This is a game with lofty ambitions, but it also happens to be a dreary experience that, despite a short run time, was an absolute slog to play.
Orwell's Animal Farm relays the content of the book well, but stops short of drawing from any new depths, as choices are limited and the plot takes second place to a dry management sim.
Rigid Force Redux delivers an R-Type emulating experience to be proud of. Fast, fluid and with smooth action, this is the type of shmup that makes you want to smother it in exciting and complimentary adjectives. If only there was more content, then perhaps it would be Rigid Force Redux that future side-scrollers try to beat.